Marine sampling bottle



J. KAHL Jan. 1, 1946.

MARINE SAMPLING BOTTLE Filed Jan. 5, 1945 L J L-l 17% INVENTOR.

J ph KQILL ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 1, 1946.

STATES Fia'i'iihl'i OFFICE MARINE SAMPLING BOTTLE Joseph Kahl, New York, N. Y.

Application January 5, 1945, Serial No. 571,411

12 Claims. (Cl. 137-18) My invention relates to improvements in marine sampling bottles which are employed to obtain samples of water from various depths of seas and lakes.

These bottles are usually pivotally connected at the r lower ends to a suitable clamp on a cable which extends downwardly from aboard a ship; and their upper ends are detachably connected in an inclined position to another clamp on the same cable and are released by an impact mass dropped from aboard the ship; the bottles, when released, turn about the center line of the bearings at their lower ends as an axis through an angle which is less than 18 degrees by the amount of their original incl nation until they become substantially vertical and inverted in position.

The type of bottles to which this invention relates provided with rotary valves which are located in seats in the ends of the bottle whereby to open or close suitable ports in said seats, which ports are in registration with openings in the valves when the ports are uncovered by the valves.

The bottles are arranged to be open in their original inclined position and to be closedby the rotation of the bottles when the upper ends of the same are released.

My invention consists in the novel features which are hereinafter described.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a means for adjust ng the position of the rotary valves when the ports are open.

Another object of my invention is to provide a means for limiting the rotation of the valves from an open to a closed position of the ports and to adjust the positions of the valves'when the ports are closed.

A further object is to limit the angle through which the valves may rotate together with the bottle about their common axis and to force the bottle to rotate about the valve at its inner end through an angle of ninety degrees. thereby closing the ports in the ends of the bottle.

A still other object is to simplify the construction of the suspending and releasing means of the marine sampling bottle and the transmission of motion from the valve at the inner end to that at the outer end of the bottle.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

I attain these objects by the mechanisms which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing or by any mechanical equivalent or obvious modifications of the same.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a side view of my improved marine sampling bottle shown in its position before it is released and showing the lever 48, which is hereinafter described, as broken oli at its left end.

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the support for the inner end of the bottle, showing the rotary valve in position with parts which are attached thereto.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail in cross-section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, showing a manually releasable stop for the valve mechanism, which is hereinafter more fully described.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail in cross-section on the line 44 of Fig. 1 showing a means for adjusting the open port position of the valve at the inner end of the bottle; a side-view of a similar device is shown in Fig. 1 as used for adlusting the'position' of the same valve when it closes the port at the lower end of the bottle.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail of a coupling and the end of a rod which may be employed as a vari-- ation of the coupling at one end of the connecting rod which is hereinafter described.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views. 1

ll designates a cable extending downwardly from aboard a ship, and [2-43 a pair of plates of a clamp which is supporting and is pivotally connected to the lower end of -a marine bottle M by means of the bearings l5 and I6 on the plate 12.

The plate l2 and 13 of the clamp are notched as at I! to receive a part of the cable ll therebetween, and they are shown as secured to each other by means of bolts I8.

The bearings l5 and I6 have journalled therein the cylindrical ends l9 and 20 ofa conical rotary valve 2 l, which has therein passing therethrough an open ng 22 which registers with ports 23' and 22 in the seat 25 which is provided for the valve 2! in a casing 26 at the lower end of the bottle 14, which has thereon at the upper end thereof a similar casing 36 whichv encloses a seat 35 for a similar valve 3| which has therein an opening 32 registering with ports 33 and 34 in the seat 35.

The valve 3| also has at the ends thereof cylindrical journals 29 and 30 which extend from the seat 35 at the ends of the latter.

The casings 26 and 36 are connected by means of a tube Ma which is in communication with the casings 2B and 36 through the ports 23 and 34 in the seats 25 and 35.

When the valves 2| and 3! have their openings 22 and 32 in registration respectively with the ports'23 and 24 and 33 and 34, the bottle I4 is in communication with the rounding the same.

The casing 33 has thereon secured thereto or integral therewith a beam 3'|3Ia which terminates in a downwardly extending finger 38 Which is engaged by an upwardly extending shoulder 39 on a lever 46 which is shown as pivotally connected at 4| to a bracket 42 which is integral with a plate 43 which is bolted to a plate 44 and clamping-a part of the cable II therebetween.

The lever 40 has integral therewith a perforated plate 45 which is encompassing the cable I I and. is pressed upwardly by an initially stressed spring 46 which is shown as seated on the upper end of the plates 4344.

The lever 40 is extending beyond the plate 45 and is shown as broken off in the drawing.

The pivot 4| may be placed to the left of the cable I I in the drawing.

The bottle I4 is shown as inclined to the cable I I; the angle of inclination depends onthe length of the beam 31-3101. which is shown as having the inner end thereof 31 fastened by screws to the casing 36.

As the bottle I4 is lowered to a desirable depth of the sea or lake in the position as shown in the drawing, the water therein is being replaced through the open ports and valve Openings which register with each other and are kept in registration by devices which are hereinafter described.

The ends I9 and 29 of the valves 2| and 3| have secured thereto arms 41 and 51 which are pivotally connected to couplings 48 and 58 which have thereon interiorly threaded hubs 49 and '50 respectively which are in movable engagement with right handed and left handed threads at the ends and '66 of a connecting rod 6| which act as feed screws when desired, as is hereinafter described.

The casings 26 and 36 have thereon interiorly threaded bosses 62 and 63, which'have adjustably engaged therewith threaded members 64 and 65 which have thereon heads 66 and 61 respectively.

body of water sur- Safety nuts are shown on said members 64 and 65 at said bosses 62 and 63.

The rod 6| has attached thereto sleeves 68 and 69 which have extending therefrom brackets I0 which have each at its end a foot II.

The foot II carried by the sleeve 68-contacts the head 66 when the ports in the casing '26 are in registration with the opening 22 in the valve 2| and the other foot 1| carried by the sleeve 69 contacts with the head 6! when the ports in the seat of the casing 26 are closed by the valve 2| after the latter has been rotated with relation to the bottle I4 through an angle of 90 degrees the valve 2 I.

In the closed position of the ports 23 and'24 by tl e valve 2| the position of the arm 41 with-relation to the bottle I4 is indicated in dot and dash lines by the center line 4'Ia in "Fig. 1 of the drawing.

The position of the sleeve :69 when the ports 23 and 24 in the seat '25 are closed by the valve 2| is indicated indotted'lines at 5911.

When assembling the mechanism the member 6466 is turned and adjusted :to contact with the foot H when the opening 22 in the. valve 2| registers with the ports 2-3 "and 24 in the seat 25 of the casing 28; the member- SEA-6! is turned and adjusted to contact with the other ifoot II when the opening 22 in the valve 2| is at: right angles to the ports 23 and 24 in the seat of the casing 26,

Each of the above adjustments is accompanied by shifting the sleeves 68 and 69 on the rod 6| and by turning the arm 41 until the foot 'II on each of the brackets 10 contacts with the corresponding head 66 or 61 respectively.

These adjustments may be repeated when the valve 2| has been worn or the mechanism disarranged.

The valve 2| is shown as kept to its seat by means of a nut I2 on a threaded part I3 on the end 20 of the valve 2|, assisted by a leaf spring 14 which is secured at one end thereof to the clamp plate I3 and is pressing at the other end thereof against the nut I2.

The valve 3| may be similarly kept to its seat by a nut and leaf spring which are not shown.

To keep the bottle I4 when closed from bein inadvertently opened by accidentally turning the arm 41 or 5! in a clockwise direction a checking cam or collar I5 is provided on the rod 6| and a resilient strip I6 is secured to the tube I4a to pass over the cam 75 when the valve 2| is being turned in a counterclockwise direction in Fig. 1 and to prevent the cam from returning from its position shown in dotted lines at 15a which corresponds to the position of the arm 41 as indicated in dot and dash lines at 41a.

When it is desired to open the bottle I4 the end of the strip I6 may be manually raised from the rod 61 suificiently to permit the cam I5 with the rod 6| to be moved in a direction to turn the arm 47 in a clockwise direction.

The rod 6| is shown in the drawing as parallel to the center line of bottle I4; but in the art which is imperfect these are not always parallel, but may be inclined to each other, the positions of the valves 2| and 3| are therefore, frequently not similar and the position of the valve 3| may have 'tobe adjusted when the opening 22 in the valve 2| is in registration with the adjacent ports 23 and 24.

'To accomplish this purpose "I provide the right handed and left handed 'feed screws 50 and 50 at the ends of the rod 6| in movable engagement'with correspondingly threaded hubs 49 and 59 on the couplings 48 and 58, whereby by turning the rod in one direction its effective length increases, and 'by'turning the rod in th opposite and 34 of the seat in the casing 36 of the bottle I4.

Variation in the length of the rod 6| may also be attained by a feed screw at one end of the rod and a swivel at the other end as shown in Fig. '5 in which the end 50b of the rod 6| is journalled in the hub 49b of the coupling 48!: and is kept from 'being displaced longitudinally by means of collars TI and I8 on the end 50b of the rod -6 I.

Other-means may be employed for varying and adjusting the effective length of the rod 6|, if desired; but the feature of an extensible rod 6| is believed to be new-and useful.

After the marine bottle has been lowered to the required depth of the water, which is to be sampled, an impact mass I9, .which'has therein an opening 80, for the cable II to pass therethrough, is dropped from aboard the ship onto the plate which with said lever '40 is-thereby paused to turn about the pivot 4| against the resistance of the spring 46, thereby lowering the shoulder 39 sufficiently to release the finger 38 with the beam 31 on the bottle l4, which is then turned by gravity about the axis of the bearings l5 and IE on the clamp l2l3 through an angle, which is equal to the difference between 180 degrees and the angle of inclination of the bottle l4 with the cable H, into an inverted position.

The valve 2i turns with the bottle l4 about the same axis through an angle which is equal to the difference between 90 degrees and the angle of inclination of the bottle I l with the cable II; the arm 4'! on the valve 21 is then intercepted by a lug 8| on the plate I3 which is disposed in the plane of rotation of the arm 41, as shown in Fig. 2.

The valve H is thereby brought to a standstill and the bottle M is caused to turn about the valve 2! as a journal during the balance of its course of rotation which is equal to an angle of 90 degrees.

The relative motion between the valve 2! and the bottle l4 brings the arm A! to the position shown by its center line at Ma and the coupling 48 is thereby carried to its position shown in dottedlines at 48a.

The ports 23 and 24 in the seat 25 of the valve 2| are thereby closed and placed at right angles to the opening 22 in the valve 2|.

The rod 6| causes the valve 3| to be rotated with the arm 51 with relation to the bottle l4, thereby closing the ports 33 and 34 through the relative motion of the arm 4'! with said bottle The sleeve (59 with the bracket thereon, which is similar to the bracket l1l, is then carried to the position shown in dotted lines at 69c and with the foot ll carried by the sleeve 59 into contact with the adjusting member 65-451, thereby determining the closing position of the ports 23 and 24 with relation to th valve 2! and causing the body of the valve 2! to overlap the ports 23 and 24 to an equal distance on each side of each of said ports.

The stop 61 also prevents the reopening of the ports 23 and 24, as well as 33 and 34, .by a continued rotation of the arm 47 with relation to the bottle M, as when the bottle l4 oscillates on the cable I l.

The cam 15 is then carried to the position indicated in dotted lines at 150. past the plate spring 16, as above described.

In current practice the rod is placed at an angle to the center line of the bottle l4, and the arm 51 is longer than the arm 41; this causes the valve 3! to turn through an angle which is less than 90 degrees by the rotation of the arm 41 through 90 degrees, but sufiiciently large to cover the ports 33 and 34 as long as the angle of inclination of the rod GI to the bottle !4 is limited to about degrees.

This is due to the fact that in current practice the upper end of the bottle !4 is suspended from the upper end of the rod- 5| which is placed on the side of the bottle M which is adjacent to the cable I l.

By suspending the upper end of the bottle l4 independently of the rod Bl, the angle of inclination of the bottle M to the cable II is not limited, the rod 6| may be parallel to the center line of the bottle l4 and the arm 5! may be equal in length to that of the arm 41. k

This would allow the valve 3| to be rotated through an angle of 90 degrees by the arm 5'! when the arm 41 is rotated through the same angle with relation to the bottle [4. whereby the ports 33 and 34 may be overlapped by the valve 3| to an equal distance on opposite sides of the ports 33 and 34; this would help to prevent or to reduce leakage past the valve 3i when the bottle I 4 is being hoisted on board theship.

The pressure of the leaf spring 14 against the nut 12 is also designed to help to prevent leakage at each of the valves 2| and 3 1.

Variations are possible and parts of my invention may be used without other parts.

I do not therefore restrict myself to the details as shown in the drawing.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a marine sampling arrangement a bottle adapted to be lowered into a body of water by flexible means, the bottle having ports at each end thereof, a rotary valve in each end of the bottle at saidports, the valve being adapted to uncover the ports to open the bottle and to cover the ports to close the bottle, a means for operatively connecting the valves to each other whereby to turn said valves, means for rotatably supportingone of the valves, means for swivelly mounting one end of the bottle thereon, means for detachably holding the other end of the bottle 50 as to incline said bottle relative to said flexible means and for releasing the bottle from said position, thereby causing it to rotate about said one end into a substantially vertical position, said valves being so arranged as to open the ports when the bottle is in its inclined position, means for causing the bottle during part of its rotation to turn about the valve at said one end to close the ports at said end, combined with a means on a part of said bottle and a part connected to the valve at said one end, cooperating therewith, for initially adjusting the position of the valve at said one end, whereby to insure the adequate opening of the ports at said end to provide an unobstructed passage for water therethrough during the lowering of the bottle through the water. I

2. The elements of claim 1, combined with a means on said bottle and a part connected to the valve at said one end cooperating therewith for adjusting the position of the valve at said one end of the bottle for closing the ports at that end.

3. In a marine sampling arrangement, a bottle adapted to be lowered into a body of water by a flexible means, the bottle having ports at each end thereof, a rotary valve in each end of the bottle at said ports, said valves being adapted to uncover the ports to open the'bottle and to cover the ports to close the bottle; a rod pivotally connected at its ends to arms respectively attached at the ends of said valves so as to turn said valves, means for rotatably supporting one of the valves, means for swivelly mounting one end of the bottle thereon, means for detachably holding the other end of the bottle so as to incline said bottle relative to said flexible means and for releasingthe bottle from said position, thereby causing it to rotate about said one end into a substantially vertical position, said valves being so arranged as-to open the ports when the bottle is in its inclined position, means for causing the bottle during part of its rotation to turn about the valve at said one end to close the ports at said end, combined with means on said bottle and means on a part of said rod cooperating therewith for initially adjusting the position of the valve at said one end to insure the adequate opening of the ports at said end to provide an unobstructed passage for water therethrough during the lowering of the bottle through the water. i

'4. The elements of claim '3, combined with a means on another part of the bottle and a means on'anothcr part of said rod cooperating therewith for limiting the angle of rotation of the rotatably supported valve with relation to said bottle and ber, one of said members having thereon a threadedpart movably extending at right angles to said rod, whereby to adjust the position of the rodat the point of contact of said members, thereby adjustably limiting the rotation of the rotatably supported valve with relation to the bottle in a way to adjust the position of this valve to insure an adequate opening of the ports, at the swivelled end'of the bottle.

'6. The elements of claim 3, combined with a means for adjusting ,the efiective length of said rod, whereby to initially adjust the position of the valve at the other end of the bottle to insure the adequate opening of the ports at said other end to provide anunobstructed passage of the water therethrough when lowering the bottle through the water.

7. The elements of claim 3, combined with a feed screw at one end of the rod in movable engagement with a corresponding interior thread at it connection to the arm on one of the valves and a. rotatable connection with the arm on the other valve at the'other end of the rod, whereby to adjust the efiective length of said rod by turning the same and thereby to initially adjust the position of the valve at the said other end of the bottle to insure the adequate opening of the ports at said end to provide an unobstructed passage of the water therethrough when lowering the bottle through the water.

8. The elements of claim 3, combined with a feed screw at each end of the rod in movable engagement with a corresponding interior thread at the connection thereof to the arm on each valve, whereby to adjust the effective length of said rod by turning the same and thereby to initially adjust the position of the valve at the said other end of the bottle to insure the adequate opening of the ports at said other end to provide an unobstructed passage of the water therethrough when lowering the bottle through the water.

9. In a marire sampling arrangement, a bottle adapted to be lowered into a body of water by flexible means, the bottle having ports at each end thereof, a rotary valve in each end of the bottle at said ports, the valves being adapted to uncover the ports to open the bottle and .to cover the ports to close the bottle, a rod, positioned substantially parallel to the center line of the bottle and pivotally connected at its ends to arms respectively attached at the ends of said valves so as to turn'said valves, means for rotatably supporting one of the valves, means for swivelly mounting one end of the bottle thereon, means for detachably holding the other end of the bottle so as to incline said bottle relative to said fiexiblemeans and for releasing the bottl from said position, thereby causing it to rotate about said one end into a substantially vertical position, said valves being so arranged as to open the ports when the bottle is in its inclined position, means for causing the bottle during part of its rotation to turn about the valve at said one end to close the ports at said end, said holding means comprising a beam at the upper end of the bottle integral therewith and terminating in a downwardly extending finger, a pivotally mounted lever carried by a part on said flexible means, a shoulder on said lever extending upwardly into engagement with said finger, an initially stressed spring carried by the said part on said flexible means for supporting said lever and to be depressed by the collision of said lever with an impact mass, thereby releasing the bottle from said inclined position.

10. In a marine sampling arrangement a bottle adapted to be lowered into a body of water by flexible means, the bottle having ports at each end thereof, a rotary valve in each end of the bottle at said ports, the valves being adapted to uncover the ports to open the bottle and to cover the ports to close the bottle, a mechanism for operatively connecting the said valves to each other whereby to turn the said valves, a means for rotatably supporting one of said valves, means for swivelly mounting one end of the bottle thereon, means for detachably holding the other end of the bottle so as to incline said bottle relative to said flexible means and for releasing the bottle from said position, thereby causing it to rotate about said one end into a substantially vertical pos tion, said valves being 50 arrarged as to open the ports when the bottle is in its inclined position, means for causing the bottle during part of its rotation to turn about the valve at said one end to close the ports at said end, combined with a means on a part of said bottle and a part of said mechanism cooperating therewith for initially adjusting the position of the valve at said one end, whereby to insure the adequate opening of the ports at said end to provide an unobstructed passage for water therethrough during the lowering of the bottle through the water.

11. The elements of claim 10, combined with a means on another part of said bottle and another part of said mechanism, cooperating therewith for limiting the angle of rotation of the valve at the said one end of said bottle with relation to said bottle and for adjusting the position of the valve at said one end for closing the ports at said end.

12. The elements of claim 10, combined with a means on a part of said mechanism for iritially adjusting the position of the valve at the said other end of the bottle to insure the adequate opening of the ports at that end to provide an unobstructed passage of the water therethrough during the operation of lowering the bottle through the water.

JOSEPH KAHL. 

